Tim Cantor

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Tim Cantor (born August 10 1969, California) is an American self-taught surrealist artist and writer who won a Bank of America achievement in arts award aged fifteen. Cantor currently lives and works in Southern California.

In 1975 at the age of five Cantor inherited a box of oil paints and brushes that once belonged to his great grandfather, the English artist, Lloyd Whiffen. Cantor began painting to paint immediately and first oil painting came at the age of five. When he was fifteen, Cantor was given his first gallery exhibition where one of his paintings was acquired to hang in the White House. Cantor has since had exhibitions in Athens, Tokyo, Singapore, Paris, Venice, New York, Beverly Hills and San Francisco.

Works
Tim Cantor paints in oils on a variety of different surfaces. He learned on his own since early childhood, almost exclusively in oils however he often uses other media such as watercolour and charcoal to create studies for larger compositions. Cantor has a traditional style using brushes and paint and utilises no tools or devices in his work.

Many of his works are based on his own fictional and non-fictional stories and poetry. These stories, he says, mostly come to him during the long process of creating the paintings. Cantor's art has been criticised for his lack of one common style to obtain recognition which Cantor has stated that he takes "as a compliment", claiming that he wants his art to be "diverse" and to show a "variety of styles and imagery that define the mental states of particular moment in his life".

Exhibitions
Tim Cantor began showing his paintings professionally at the age of 15 when he was honored with the Bank of America achievement in arts award. At his first show, Senator Barbara Boxer presented the award and then chose a painting to hang in the White House. The early publicity created a demand for his work. After finishing high school in Marin County he began traveling and exhibiting his paintings in galleries and open air events throughout the Western United States. After seven years on the road he decided to display his paintings exclusively in fine art galleries and museums and then in 2000, Tim Cantor established Ashby Galleries. Ashby Galleries and Ashby and Alfred publications are devoted exclusively to Tim Cantor and display his work year-round. One of Tim Cantor's paintings is in the permanent collection of the White House and well-known collectors of his work include Terrence Howard and Robert De Niro.

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